


Between You and Everyone Else

by toffrox33



Series: Will and Nico [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Awesome Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Canon Compliant, Dialogue Heavy, Drabble Collection, Drabbles, Established Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hazel Levesque is a Good Sibling, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Grace Ships Nico di Angelo/WIll Solace, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Minor Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico Feels, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace Friendship, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson Friendship, Nico di Angelo & Piper McLean Friendship, Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano Friendship, Percy talks about Tartarus, Piper McLean is a Good Friend, Post-Tartarus (Percy Jackson), Pre-The Tower of Nero (Trials of Apollo), Rambling, TON Spoilers start at Chapter 4, The Tower of Nero (Trials of Apollo) Spoilers, companion fic, percabeth mentioned, reading part one probably not needed, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25828465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toffrox33/pseuds/toffrox33
Summary: "Excuse me, Blackstone, you are disturbing my patients." Will said sternly. He glanced at Nico. "Did you wake di Angelo up?""Of course not!" Lou Ellen gasped, outraged. Nico hid a smile as Will raised his eyebrows skeptically. "I didn't!" Lou Ellen cried indignantly. Will turned to Nico, who shrugged again."She didn't." he confirmed. Will scowled at Lou Ellen anyway.-Conversations with Nico di Angelo. ~Background Solangelo~Companion piece to 'Between You and Me' - Nico POV - Dialogue-y drabbles from at various points throughout the PJO/HoO/ToA series. Not chronological.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Will and Nico [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847725
Comments: 11
Kudos: 149





	1. Cecil & Lou Ellen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Excuse me, Blackstone, you are disturbing my patients." Will said sternly. He glanced at Nico. "Did you wake di Angelo up?"
> 
> "Of course not!" Lou Ellen gasped, outraged. Nico hid a smile as Will raised his eyebrows skeptically. "I didn't!" Lou Ellen cried indignantly. Will turned to Nico, who shrugged again.
> 
> "She didn't." he confirmed. Will scowled at Lou Ellen anyway.
> 
> -
> 
> Nico makes some new friends :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~The infirmary. Day three. Morning.~
> 
> This chapter is a companion/follow on to chapter 11 from 'Between You and Me' - part one of this series :)

Nico woke to the sound of laughter.

He squinted through tired eyes at the infirmary which, almost a week on now from the battle against Gaia's army, was finally starting to seem a little quieter.

Kana, the girl from the Third Cohort who was still too unwell to be moved back to California, was still sleeping peacefully in her bed opposite Nico. With relief, Nico noted that the possibility of Death that had been lingering over her for days now was finally starting to ease off. Whatever healing Will and Chiron had been working on last night seemed to be working.

Thankfully, Nico didn't have to dwell on the events of last night too much longer as the laughter that had woken him drew his attention again.

It came from the bed beside him, where Cecil Markowitz was sitting under the covers, with Lou Ellen cackling in the visitor's chair beside him. Cecil's head was no longer wrapped in bandages from his unfortunate tumble from the climbing wall yesterday, though he looked distinctly pained regardless, watching Lou Ellen wipe tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Shut up, Lou. It's not that funny!" he spluttered.

"It is though." Lou Ellen gasped out, "It really, _really_ is."

Nico sat up in his own bed.

"What's funny?" he asked.

Lou Ellen and Cecil's heads both snapped towards him and Cecil's annoyance at Lou Ellen seemed to intensify. Lou Ellen's eyes widened in delight at the prospect of explaining the clearly very hilarious story to another person. Her chair was on Cecil's right side, so she was placed in between Nico and Cecil's beds.

"Seriously?" Cecil said. "You need to settle down, Lou. You're waking up all the other patients."

"You didn't wake me up." Nico lied, trying and failing to hide a smirk. Cecil redirected his glare at Nico.

Lou Ellen grinned and shifted her chair a little so that she could talk to both of them at the same time without turning her back.

"Well, Cecil fell off the climbing wall yesterday." She told Nico.

"I know… I was here when he came in." said Nico, hoping she wouldn't mention the chaos of the two of them crashing through the door the previous evening, Cecil unconscious and bleeding.

"Right. But he just told me _why_ exactly he was attempting to climb the climbing wall yesterday." Lou Ellen went on.

"Why?" asked Nico, more relieved than curious.

"Because" Lou Ellen paused and took a breath in an (unsuccessful) attempt to quell her giggles, "Drew told him there was a secret ice cream bar at the top… and he _believed_ her!"

In spite of himself, Nico felt his lips twitch. Cecil glared at him.

"An ice cream bar?" He said. "At the top of a climbing wall covered in… lava?"

Lou Ellen cackled again.

"I didn't believe her." Cecil grouched. "Obviously she was charm speaking me."

"I dunno…" Nico said, dark eyes glinting. "Piper once told me that for charm speak to work well the subject has to want want the speaker says to be true."

Lou Ellen looked as if Nico had just handed her a lifetime supply of magic pig bombs. She turned to Cecil with renewed glee.

Cecil glowered at a Nico who shrugged like 'sorry man, you're the one who thought there was a secret ice cream bar conspiracy at camp'.

Lou Ellen, who had dissolved into giggles again, was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone clearing his throat.

The three of them looked up to see Will standing with his notes tucked under his arm and his eyebrows raised.

"Excuse me, Blackstone, you are disturbing my patients." He said sternly. He glanced at Nico, likely noting the way his hair was still messy from sleep and the fact that he was still wearing pyjamas. "Did you wake di Angelo up?"

"Of course not!" Lou Ellen gasped, outraged. She assumed a very dramatic and highly offended facial expression. Nico hid a smile as Will raised his eyebrows skeptically. "I didn't!" Lou Ellen cried indignantly. Will turned to Nico, who shrugged again.

"She didn't." he confirmed, lying again. Will scowled at Lou Ellen anyway.

"Well you should keep it down anyway… Some of us are working."

Lou Ellen and Cecil snickered as Will turned his back to them and went back to checking up on other patients.

Nico excused himself to take a shower and get dressed, grabbing some breakfast from the table by the door that Will had topped up with food for patients. When he returned to his bed, Lou Ellen and Cecil were still there.

Cecil appeared to be fully healed now, but the two of them were sitting cross legged on Cecil's bed, apparently deciding that they would rather hang out here for the morning than join their cabins for scheduled camp activities.

They waved at Nico when he returned. Nico was surprised to feel a comforting sort of a pleasure that they were still here. He tried not to dwell too much on that feeling, though he knew Jason would berate him for that. He was sticking around this time, right? That meant trying to believe that people might actually want to be his friend.

"So, what're you in for di Angelo?" Cecil joked.

Nico sat down on his own bed and pulled his own legs up so that he was cross legged like them. He sat facing them.

"It's my last day in today." He said. "Will said I needed to rest after all the shadow travel."

"Ah yes, bringing back the Athena Parthenos." Cecil nodded. "Impressive."

Nico smiled, uncomfortable. He knew people would want to talk to him about the quest.

"I wish I could shadow travel" Lou Ellen sighed.

"Couldn't you just teleport with magic?" Cecil asked her. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at him as if he asked these sorts of questions all the time.

"It's not that simple. The powers I got from my mom are mostly about controlling the Mist. That's more about _looking_ like I'm somewhere else - not actually _travelling_ somewhere else."

"Well it's not as fun as it looks. Shadow travel I mean." Nico said. "And I won't be able to properly use my powers for another week, apparently."

Cecil and Lou Ellen exchanged an amused look.

"Doctors orders?" Lou Ellen asked with a raised eyebrow. Nico hoped he wasn't blushing when he nodded.

Cecil laughed, and for a second Nico panicked, feeling embarrassed. But then he noticed how Cecil was smirking across the room at Will and realised they were laughing at Will, not him.

"Ahh, don't take him too seriously, he's too straight-laced for his own good" Cecil said fondly. He winked conspiratorially at Nico "You can use your powers around us, we won't tell him."

Lou Ellen shot him a wicked grin, nodding in agreement. Nico scoffed.

"Careful what you wish for" He muttered, imagining of the two of them gaping in horror at zombies bursting out from under the bed. Lou Ellen just looked excited.

Nico looked around and watched Will for a bit. He thought again about what Jason had said about relaxing and looking after himself and getting to know people.

"Anyway," He said to Cecil and Lou Ellen, "I probably should take him seriously this time. I haven't been very good at… taking time to recover this past year."

"You mean on the quest?" Lou Ellen asked "Annabeth said you led the seven to the House of Hades."

Dammit. How had Nico managed to bring the conversation back around to the quest? Cecil was watching him curiously, Lou Ellen wide eyed.

"Yeah… something like that" Nico mumbled.

"Must've been intense. Stuck on a ship with all of those guys" said Cecil.

"What do you mean?" Nico frowned.

"Oh, you know-"

"No he doesn't, Cecil." Lou Ellen interrupted. She shot Nico a knowing smile. "He's big three too, remember. You know, he was in one of the prophecies as well, Percy said."

Nico blinked. Despite the impressed note in Lou Ellen's voice, he felt indignant. Were they accusing him of being some sort of half blood prophecy diva?

Like they thought he was too cool to hang out with the rest of camp?

Is _that_ why Will and the others thought he didn't stick around here?

He told himself that couldn't be it. But then again, he supposed that the assumption made sense, for campers like Lou Ellen, who only knew him as a friend of Percy's…

"Whatever, he's not in _the_ prophecy." Cecil was saying now, apparently in Nico's defence. "I mean come on, stuck in the middle of the ocean bunking up with 'the great seven' - there's gotta be some drama right?"

Nico couldn't help but smile at that.

"Oh, you have _no_ idea" He said seriously.

Cecil looked at Lou Ellen like 'see?' but Lou Ellen just crossed her arms.

"I dunno" She said, "Can't have been as tense as travelling across the world with that Roman Praetor." She shuddered at the word _praetor_ , clearly intimidated by the idea of being alone with Reyna for so long.

"Nah, Reyna's cool." Nico said. He smiled as he said it, remembering his own trepidation, months ago now, when he and Reyna had first met.

"Besides, travelling with Hedge was the real challenge." Nico added. "At one point we had to delay packing up camp for the day because it took him almost two hours to dis-assemble his ridiculously over-complicated monster traps."

Lou Ellen and Cecil both laughed at that. Nico felt a relaxed kind of calm settle over him at the sound.

Then, with a jolt, he realised that he'd just told a story from the quest. And it hadn't been bad.

Sharing this stuff didn't have to be scary. There were parts he felt comfortable sharing… Even more importantly, he was in control. He could choose what he was ready to tell. And Lou Ellen and Cecil _wanted_ to hear it, regardless.

They had fought with him up on half blood hill, Nico reminded himself, and now they were hanging out in the infirmary with him. He could trust them.

"When I first met Reyna, back when she and Jason were praetors together, she kind of freaked me out too." Nico admitted, "But then she ate a really inappropriate amount of jelly beans out of nervousness from being alone in a room with two Underworld kids and spent most of our meeting on a sugar high. Kind of hard to be intimidated after that."

Nico smiled at the memory, it seemed weird remembering those few times he'd met Jason before Hera's exchange. Back when he seemed to be the more serious one out of him and Reyna… Weird.

Lou Ellen and Cecil looked deeply impressed.

"Man, it's so cool that you've been to Camp Jupiter!" said Lou Ellen. Cecil nodded in agreement.

"I hope we get to visit sometime soon" he said, eyes lighting up hopefully.

"Hey, Nico, you could show us around!" Lou Ellen cried. "Like a private tour guide!"

"Yeah" Cecil's eyes lit up. "We call first dibs, di Angelo, don't let anyone else book you first."

Nico felt his cheeks warm and wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or embarrassed.

Either way, it felt good to be sitting there with them, making plans.

"Well I think I need to get used to the routine around here first." Nico said modestly, "I've never stuck around for very long before."

"We can show you the ropes." Cecil told him, nodding sagely.

Lou Ellen scoffed, "Right. Well I'm sorry to tell you but its much more boring around here than out there" she said. Nico smiled.

"Good" he said. She had no idea what a relief it was to finally be in a place where the worst case scenario was boredom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have many more Nico + Cecil + Lou Ellen head canons so this will not be the last you see of them here!
> 
> -
> 
> I wrote 'Between You and Me' (originally titled 'Will and Nico') as a Solangelo headcanon and wanted to keep those drabbles mainly focused on just the two of them, but then side stories between Will and other characters kept popping up in my head so I wrote 'Between Me and Everyone Else' and now here is a Nico-centric collection. 
> 
> It goes without saying that it's likely this one will be a bit more angsty. DW though soft Nico is my jam.


	2. Piper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hi" Piper said, "I hope you don't mind me visiting." As she spoke she sat on the end of Nico's bed, which made Nico feel like maybe it wouldn't make much of a difference if Nico minded or not. 
> 
> "Um, no, that's ok." Nico said. Piper looked relieved.
> 
> "How's it going?"
> 
> "It's been… it's been fine." Nico said hesitantly. "How are you?" He looked her in the eye when he said it, so that she knew he was really asking 'Are you ok?'
> 
> -
> 
> Nico gets an unexpected visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Piper McLean is a gem. 💎
> 
> ~The Infirmary. Day one. Afternoon.~

"Hey, Nico."

Nico's head jerked up. He hadn't been expecting any visitors.

"Piper?" Nico knew he sounded shocked and wondered if maybe that was rude, but Piper just smiled.

After eating lunch with Will and his siblings (who, to Nico's surprise, had not seemed to find Nico's presence unusual), Nico had settled back down on his assigned bed. He'd told Will that he was happy to keep helping with infirmary duties but Will had instructed him to rest instead.

Nico had wanted to argue (he was feeling infinitely better now that his arms had been rebandaged), but the truth was he was exhausted. He settled under the covers, wondering how he would sleep with so much activity around him, and leant into the pillows, watching the Apollo kids work. He must have drifted into some kind of sleep at some point because before he knew it the afternoon had mostly slipped away.

At around 4o'clock, he had found himself blinking himself awake. His eyes sought out Will, who was working at a bed diagonally opposite him; a Roman girl from the Third Cohort.

Nico watched Will place his hand on the girl's forehead. His brow was furrowed and jaw set firmly. He closed his eyes; completely oblivious to anything but his patient. Nico wondered if Will knew what was wrong with her.

He had still been watching them closely when his unexpected visitor interrupted his thoughts.

She was standing at the foot of his bed. Nico noted the bags under her eyes and the fact that her hair was even messier than usual. The easy confidence she usually exuded was diminished slightly. Leo's death had hit her hard… maybe harder than anyone, Nico mused. Guilt twisted in his stomach at the thought.

"Hi" Piper said, "I hope you don't mind me visiting." As she spoke she sat on the end of Nico's bed, which made Nico feel like maybe it wouldn't make much of a difference if Nico minded or not. Some part of him registered that maybe that should be annoying, but it didn't come across that way.

"Um, no, that's ok." Nico said. Piper looked relieved.

"How's it going?"

"It's been… it's been fine." Nico said hesitantly. "How are you?" He looked her in the eye when he said it, so that she knew what he was really asking. _Are you ok?_ Piper's smile wavered.

"I'll be alright." She said. She looked down at her hands, which were clasped on her lap, and twisted her fingers together.

There was a long pause and Nico wasn't sure what to say. He was still a little perplexed that she was even here.

He didn't break the silence; he was used to things being awkward between him and other demigods. His mind drifted back to those weeks on the _Argo II_.

"So Jason said that you're staying at camp?" Piper said.

Nico wondered briefly whether Jason had asked her to come visit him, and that's why she was here.

"Yeah…" Nico tried to force a smile. Tried to be friendly. "Figured it was about time I stayed in one place for a while."

"Tell me about it." Piper said with a sardonic grin. "Can you believe we were away on that quest for _months_?"

She seemed to relax a little as she said it, leaning back against the bed posts. Nico's eyes widened as he registered that she was including Nico in that 'we', not just the Seven.

Piper sighed and looked around the room. "It still feels so strange to be back here. Especially now that…" she trailed off.

Nico couldn't bear to keep looking at her. His stomach churned as the encounter with Octavian at the onagers played over in his mind for the thousandth time. He'd stayed up all night praying, but he still felt sick at the thought of Leo, still couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he shouldn't have…

"I miss him." Piper said, staring down at her hands again. "…Leo, I mean."

"I know." Nico said quietly. Of course he knew. "I… I miss him too."

Nico knew it must seem like a silly thing to say… maybe Piper would even be mad at him for saying it. He hadn't known Leo very well, after all. But the truth is, he did miss him. Back on the _Argo II_ , Nico had felt so alone, and yet he couldn't imagine how much worse it would have been if it had been just Jason and Piper and Hazel and Frank with him. Just him, Coach Hedge and the couples… Things would be so different if Leo was here now. He'd had a knack for cheering everybody up.

Piper didn't seem mad. If anything, Nico's words seemed to help. She nodded, like she knew what Nico was thinking.

"Jason said…" She hesitated. "She said you felt it. When Leo…"

Nico swallowed. Maybe _this_ why she was here…

"I'm sorry, Piper. I wish I could-"

"No, I'm sorry" Piper interrupted. "I shouldn't have-" She cut herself off and sighed. "I spent so much of my time on the _Argo II_ feeling completely helpless. I shouldn't be offloading that feeling onto you."

She looked up. Smiled again. Nico blinked at her. If Jason hadn't told her to come, and if she wasn't here to ask about Leo… then why was she visiting? She had no reason to be nice to him…

"Gods, do you remember at the Colosseum in Rome?" She said. She shook her head and tilted back to look at the ceiling with an exasperated smile.

Nico remembered. Sitting next to Dionysus (or Bacchus, whatever) having barely woken up from his trance inside the bronze jar. Piper was injured badly. The two of them had watched helplessly from the sidelines as Jason and Percy battled the twin giants.

"I was completely useless" Piper laughed.

"You weren't useless." Nico said. "You saved _me_ … Not that I was much help either, I guess."

"Are you kidding? We would never have found the Doors of Death without you!" said Piper. Nico felt his own lips twitch ever so slightly into a returning smile.

"You're the one who put Gaia to sleep, remember." He said.

Piper grinned. "You're right. Guess it's a good thing Jason and Percy stopped those giants from killing us, they'd be lost without us."

"So true" Nico feigned seriousness, which made Piper laugh again.

They sat in silence for another moment, though this time Nico thought it seemed a little more easy than the awkward pause before.

"How come you're in the infirmary anyway?" Piper asked. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had to get some old werewolf scratches checked out" Nico shrugged.

" _Werewolf_ scratches?"

"Yeah. Reyna, Hedge and I ran into Lycaon in Portugal." He said casually. "Besides, I'm still kind of recovering from the shadow travel. And you know, before that…"

Piper's smile turned sombre. Not quite in pity, but thoughtful.

"You know" Piper said hesitantly, "Annabeth told me about some of the stuff that she and Percy saw in Tartarus… I can't even imagine." Nico stiffened as soon as the word Tartarus was out of her mouth. He glanced fearfully around the room to make sure no one was listening, but Piper had already lowered her voice. "It must have been really scary for you too. Going through all of that…"

 _Alone._ Nico finished the thought for her and recoiled. He felt his face scrunch into a scowl and looked away, desperate for something to look at that wasn't her kind, searching expression.

"Sorry" She said softly. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it."

He didn't.

"I just wanted to say something to let you know that if you do need someone to talk to about it. You know, other than Jason or Reyna… I'm a pretty good listener. I think it helped for Annabeth."

Nico frowned at the spot on the floor he had started to focus on.

He'd always tried not to think too much about Annabeth. It was hard to imagine her as more than just Percy's girlfriend and that always made him mad. Now, he felt guilty, remembering that she too had had to struggle through Tartarus.

But it had been different for her, he knew. And he thought Piper probably knew it too.

She didn't have to do it alone.

She'd had Percy there, always ready to follow her. Just like he always did.

Nico wondered if Jason had told Piper about the encounter with Cupid. Nico supposed it wasn't a secret anymore… Maybe Annabeth would tell her.

To Nico's shock, he found that this thought didn't actually bother him. The way Piper was talking to him, and remembering their time in Rome, Nico felt like… well, like she trusted him. Like she had his back. He shook his head as if that might help him process that information.

He looked back up at her.

"Thanks, Piper… I'll think about it."

"Good." She nodded, and looked pleased. She turned to check the infirmary clock. "I better get going - head counsellor duties." She said "I guess I'll see you at dinner?"

"Nah, I'm staying here for a few days. Solace says I have to rest."

Piper looked across to where Will was now scribbling down notes at his desk in the corner, rapidly explaining something to one of the satyrs at the same time. She looked back at Nico with a sideways smile.

"Ok, well maybe Jason and I could come visit tomorrow?" she said.

"Yeah… that'd be nice." said Nico. "I'll see you tomorrow."

As she left the room, Nico felt a little bewildered, struggling to believe what had just happened. And yet, there was a warm, bubbly feeling in his stomach.

Maybe he'd actually made the right decision for once, choosing to stay at camp.

He settled back down in his bed again closed his eyes, unaware of the smile that was still lingering on his face… Unaware of the blond healer watching him with relief and hoping that he could make that smile stay for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a companion/follow on to chapter 5 from 'Between You and Me' if you want more three days in the infirmary fluff with some slow burn Solangelo :)


	3. Reyna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not saying you have to tell him." Reyna said. "You get to decide. But you have to make that decision for you. You can't just not say anything so that you can keep telling yourself you're a bad person. Because you're not a bad person, Nico."
> 
> -
> 
> Nico visits Camp Jupiter to hang with his sister and ask Reyna for advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Takes place a few months post-BoO~ 
> 
> Companion/Prequel to 'Enough', chapters 3 & 4 from 'Between You and Me'

Nico stepped out of the shadows of the Camp Jupiter stables, startling a Roman camper who was halfway through the doors with a hand on their pegasus's back.

The camper tensed at the sight of him, though Nico saw a flicker of recognition in their eyes that appeared to keep them from shouting out in alarm.

He swayed on his feet for a moment.

It had been months since he'd attempted a shadow travel jump of any real distance. There hadn't really been any reason for Nico to leave camp lately. For the first time in a long time, Nico was happy where he was.

It had been weeks since Will had even mentioned Nico's recovery, although Nico supposed that was because the two of them had been otherwise occupied lately… Nico smiled at the memory of breakfast that morning, when Will had kept deliberately pouring tiny amounts of syrup onto his pancakes, just so that he'd have an excuse to keep reaching for more, his arm brushing against Nico's as he did so.

Neither Nico or Will were using the word 'boyfriend' out loud yet, though Nico suspected that Will wanted too but didn't want to make Nico uncomfortable. Kayla and Austin had used the word on more than one occasion now, which always made Will blush bright red and then look at Nico in panic. Nico just rolled his eyes.

Despite all this, Nico's sudden wooziness by the Camp Jupiter stables prompted him to feel guilty for not checking with Will before coming here. He regained his balance. Then he immediately felt annoyed at himself for feeling guilty.

Just because they were dating now didn't mean he needed to check in with him every time he wanted to visit his sister or his friends.

He focused on his own annoyance and reminded himself why he was excited to be here, to see Reyna and Hazel. When he was annoyed, it was much easier to ignore the voice reminding him of all the reasons it was reckless to shadow travel across the country.

The more he thought on it, the easier it was to be self-righteous about it. Sure, every other time he'd used shadow travel to go into New York or down to the Underworld, he had ended up passed out in the infirmary, but it was only _sleep_. It's not like he was going to battle for Hades' sake. Will just didn't like Nico being apart from him.

This was a much nicer story for Nico to tell himself than one in which Nico was not strong enough to use his own powers to visit his own sister. It even made him smile a little, thinking about Will wanting to be near him.

So, satisfied that Will would probably (hopefully) forgive him, and convinced (partially) that the reason he felt so tired now was just lack of practice, Nico smiled at the Roman camper at the stables and asked cheerfully if they knew where Hazel might be.

-

It was early morning in California but the Romans were already bustling around camp on their way to their morning training. Nico made his way to archery, where Hazel and the fifth cohort were being instructed by Frank.

Frank saw Nico first. His eyes lit up when he saw him and he raised a hand in greeting, then quickly nudged Hazel. Hazel spun round and gasped delightedly.

"Nico!" She launched herself towards him. Nico laughed, though the force of her hug made him stumble; he was still unsteady from the journey. Hazel eyed him critically. "Did you shadow travel here?"

"Yes" Nico said, uncertainly. He knew Reyna had told Hazel about the difficulties he'd had with shadow travel since the mission.

"And you're feeling ok?" she looked him right in the eye as she said it. Nico guessed she already knew the answer.

"I'm a little tired." Nico admitted sheepishly.

Hazel just rolled her eyes like 'what am I going to do with you'

"Hey, you told me to visit when we Iris messaged yesterday!"

"I didn't mean _today_ " Hazel laughed. Nico grinned, but looked embarrassed.

"Yeah well, I just figured, why not. I missed you." He mumbled. Hazel beamed at that.

"You could take a nap in my bunk at the Praetor's House" Frank suggested. "Rest up while we train and we could meet you for lunch?"

Nico perked up at that. He smiled gratefully at Frank.

"Yeah. That sounds great."

-

The rest of the day was perfect.

Nico completely forgot all doubts from when he first arrived. The longer he stayed, the more he convinced that Will would forgive him for risking the jump. After all, he was going to have to get used to longer trips eventually, right?

After his nap, Nico felt better. He was able to ignore the leftover nausea enough to have a small lunch with Hazel and Frank at the mess hall and then Hazel's fellow centurion said they would cover for Hazel at training that afternoon, leaving her free to join Nico and head to New Rome to surprise Reyna, who'd been up there all morning for meetings with older legacies and demigods from the city.

Reyna gave Nico the biggest grin when she saw him and the three of them happily went to get hot chocolates from Reyna's favourite cafe.

Afterwards Hazel and Nico chatted in one of the many city gardens. Hazel asked about Will and Nico gushed about how great the past few weeks had been and Hazel teased him for being so sappy.

Hazel took Nico back to the stables to see Arion, and then back to the principia to meet back up with Frank. Frank updated Nico on what Camp Jupiter had been up to after the Giants' War, telling him how he and Reyna were hoping to do a Praetor's visit to Camp Half Blood sometime before Christmas.

They met Reyna again at dinner, where Reyna insisted that Nico stay the night. "Nico, I can tell you're still tired from the trip this morning. Don't think you can fool me."

Nico agreed, sparing a brief thought to how Will would be worried. Nico had told Chiron he would be with Hazel, so there was no real need for concern, but Nico definitely would have said something to Will if he'd intended to stay overnight… Then Hazel started talking about how maybe they could have a movie night and Nico was distracted again.

He spent the evening with Hazel and her cohort, then trekked back to the Praetorium again to hang with Frank and Reyna before bed. He and Frank attempted to teach Reyna Mythomagic. (She hated it, but played three games with them nonetheless).

Nico had a dreamless sleep and he even managed to smile through the ridiculously early breakfast the next day.

After they ate, Frank and Hazel headed off to training and Nico went for a walk with Reyna.

"It's really good to see you, Nico." Reyna smiled.

"Yeah, you too." said Nico, though he knew that really what Reyna really meant was _It's good to see you happy._

"You should visit more often" she suggested. Nico looked away.

"I'm not sure Will would be very happy with that." he muttered.

Reyna frowned and Nico knew why. It wasn't like Will came across as clingy. Reyna, like everyone else, knew Will for his relaxed demeanour.

"Will doesn't like it when I shadow travel." Nico explained.

"Ah" Reyna nodded in understanding. "I guess it's all pretty new to him."

"Whatever, he's known me longer than you have." Nico scowled. "Plus, he's seen worse injuries on the battlefield. I don't know why it bothers him so much."

"He's worried about you."

Nico glared at her.

"Hey, calm down" she laughed "I'm on your side. He shouldn't get to decide when and why you shadow travel. It's your power. I'm just saying, it was probably really scary for him when you showed up at camp that day so close to fading. I was scared for you, when you almost faded away from me."

Nico frowned at her, uncertain.

"Will barely even knew me then."

"Yeah, but he wanted to. He cared a lot about you. At least, that's what it sounds like, from what you've told me."

Nico remained deep in thought for a while. They came to a spot near Temple Hill overlooking the camp and sat down together.

"Sometimes I think about how Will _still_ doesn't really know me." Nico said quietly. Reyna's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't told Will anything about me from before the war. I haven't told anyone, really."

"Well you don't have to, if you don't want to." said Reyna.

"Don't you think I'm kind of lying if I don't say anything?"

"Lying? About what?"

"Just… about me. About who I am. The things I've done. If Will knew about this stuff, maybe he wouldn't want to-"

"Nico." Reyna interrupted. "I didn't tell anyone about my Dad for years, because I thought they would judge me for what I did. But I was wrong. You accepted me when I confided with you. And I carried that fear around with me for so long. If you honestly, really think that Will would walk away from you after you share this with him, then he doesn't deserve to be with you."

Nico studied Reyna's face. Her eyes were serious, almost stern, but her body language was relaxed. She was leaning back, sitting close to Nico. It was nice. Nico offered her a small smile.

"I'm not saying you have to tell him." Reyna said. "You get to decide. But you have to make that decision for you. You can't just not say anything so that you can keep telling yourself you're a bad person. Because you're _not_ a bad person, Nico."

Nico wasn't so convinced.

"But what if-"

"Nico." There was a warning edge to Reyna's voice but Nico persisted.

"No, I've been thinking… After what happened with Bryce… you said that even though what I did was hard to watch, it had to be done."

Reyna nodded but let Nico keep talking.

"Well, Will kind of said the same thing to me about what happened to Octavian. Like he understood but at the same time-" Nico cut himself off with a sigh. "He was so shocked when I let Octavian fire that onager.And _you_ were shocked when I… What if-"

Nico shifted uneasily. Reyna seemed worried, but she let him think.

"I know that being a child of Hades means that sometimes I see things differently to everyone else. Bryce and Octavian… people seem to be ok with those things happening, because it seems like they are just one time things. Exceptions to the rule. Like, it's ok for me to use Underworld logic as long as it's not all the time… but for me, it's not just one time. I'm a son of Hades _all_ the time. So how will I know when I've gone too far?"

Nico sat back, relieved to have finally got out what he had been feeling. He expected Reyna to look conflicted but when he turned to look, she was smiling.

"Nico, you're a powerful demigod. You've been put in some insane situations, in some of the worst places with the worst people. And you _still_ chose to fight for peace in _two_ wars. And you _survived_."

"Barely." Nico muttered under his breath. Reyna rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's what we have medics for."

Nico frowned. He thought about Will and those three days in the infirmary.

"Will said healers have to know when somethings permanently damaged and when something can be fixed."

"Nico, you're not a broken leg." Reyna scoffed.

"But you don't get it." Nico said forcefully. "If I was damaged and I can be fixed then other demigods can be fixed too and so I shouldn't have killed Octavian."

Reyna stared at him for a long moment.

"I can't believe I even have to say this, but you are _nothing_ like Octavian. Do you think Octavian ever stopped and worried for a _second_ about whether he was a good person? Just the fact that you're thinking about this stuff means you're not as terrible as you think you are."

She spoke just as forcefully as Nico had, though he could sense vulnerability in her words. Like it was vitally important to her that Nico understand what she was saying.

"You could be talking about yourself, you know that?" Nico said gently. "With your dad…"

Reyna shook her head, smiling slightly.

"Every demigod has to accept the burdens that come with being a child of their godly parent." She said. "I always thought that mine was pretty bad but… you're Pluto's ambassador. It's your burden to be the person in the room who understands death better than others. And sometimes that's going to freak people out. And sometimes it means you have to make decisions that other heroes don't have to make. But that doesn't mean you're not a hero too."

Nico's heart warmed as some part of him began to be convinced by her words. Or maybe he was just happy to be here with her.

"You're a good person, Nico. And it's not fair that you're the one who has to carry this."

"Thanks, Reyna." He smiled. Reyna smiled back, seemingly convinced now that Nico was taking her seriously.

"You know you're pretty good at this leadership thing." Nico teased, nudging Reyna's shoulder with his own. "They should elect you as praetor of something."

Reyna laughed tiredly.

"Yeah well some days I wish they hadn't." She tried to keep her voice teasing too, but her heart wasn't quite in it.

Nico looked at her quizzically. She cleared her throat, not meeting his eyes.

"Anyway, we should get back to camp." She stood up hastily. "I hear the first cohort was interested in learning combat tips from you."

Nico stood up with her.

"Right. That sounds fun." He said, feigning a smile.

"Well it will be - until I beat you." Reyna smirked.

"You wish, _Roman_."

Nico grinned at his friend. They walked back down to camp together, bumping shoulders and laughing. The rest of the day passed by happily and Nico kept on grinning, feeling lighter and steadier than he had felt in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To read Will's response to Nico's shadow travel, head to chapter 3 of 'Between You and Me' (part one of this series)


	4. Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have to trust that he'll be able to take care of himself." 
> 
> "How can he when he's always trying to take care of me first?"
> 
> "Well maybe you should let him."
> 
> Nico threw up his hands and tugged his hair, exasperated. "I can't just ignore this, Percy"
> 
> -
> 
> Nico and Will fight. Nico asks Percy for advice.
> 
> ** SPOILERS for Tower of Nero in this chapter **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Takes place a few months before the events of Tower of Nero~
> 
> Companion/Sequel to 'Voices', chapter 18 from 'Between You and Me'
> 
> ** SPOILERS for Tower of Nero in this chapter **

Nico lay staring at the ceiling of Cabin Thirteen.

The voices were absent today, although the memory of last night's dream still burned in his mind.

Alongside them were echoes of his conversation with Will. They had fought yesterday and they hadn't spoken since.

Nico had skipped dinner. And breakfast.

Perhaps if Jason were here he would have brought Nico some food. (He was awfully hungry).

But Jason was gone.

Nico cursed the tears that stung the corner of his eyes as he remembered again the moment he had felt Jason's…

But no, he shouldn't think about it. _Couldn't_ think about it.

It would drive him crazy, he knew, if he obsessed over it. And he wasn't even sure if it was real… especially with all the other weird things Nico had been seeing and hearing lately.

Part of him knew already that this feeling was different. That it was real. Just like he knew Bob's voice calling out to him was real.

But he didn't want to think about that either. Didn't want to think about how upset he was making Will.

 _"You can't go down there alone again, Nico. You can't."_ Will had told him, his eyes sparkling with tears.

Nico had panicked at the idea of Will coming with him to Tartarus. But that had only made Will more upset.

 _"You really don't think I can do this, huh?"_ He had whispered.

Nico groaned and rolled onto his side, curling into a ball in the corner of his bed.

All he wanted was to protect Will. For Will to be safe. To keep him and their relationship seperate from all the horrible things that already haunted everything else in his life.

He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the tears that still threatened to overtake him.

Instead the darkness just reminded him of his dream.

-

He dreamed he was at camp.

Except his dream self didn't know it was camp. He was lost.

He stumbled around the green, knocking on cabin doors. Each time he did the door would swing open to reveal groups of monsters instead of campers.

The Apollo cabin had been empty.

Someone was calling Nico's name. Someone Nico knew… or had known a long time ago.

Nico ran along the pier at the lake and around the edges of the woods, but he couldn't find his way… he wasn't even sure what he was looking for. Wherever he went, the voice calling out to him became more distant.

He had walked up to the Big House and wandered around the big, empty rooms, but no one was home. He'd climbed up to the attic thinking maybe he'd find something there. Instead he found himself face to face with Akhlys, who wept. She stared at him, like she stared at him every time he dreamed about her.

He knew what she was going to say before she said it, even though it had been months since she had spoken to him in his dreams. After he and Will had started dating she had started appearing in his dreams less frequently. When she did, she rarely spoke. She rarely even cried lately, though she was crying now. Crying and smiling.

_"Child of Hades, what more could I do to you?"_

Nico wrenched his eyes open again and sat up straight.

He blinked the remnants of tears out of his eyes, his heart still racing from the memory of the dream.

Then he stood up and reached for his shoes and bomber jacket.

He needed to talk to someone about this.

-

Nico appeared on the doorstep and pressed the buzzer before he could change his mind.

It wasn't the first time he'd stood outside Percy Jackson's place, his stomach churning with nervousness. But this time he wasn't nervous about the boy inside the apartment. All Nico could think about was his fight with Will and Will in Tartarus and whether he would be able to fix it.

"Hello?" came a woman's voice from the apartment speaker.

Nico had learned that it was better to shadow travel to the front door when visiting the Jacksons'. Apparently shadow travelling onto the window sill or directly into the living room was a little inappropriate.

"Hey Mrs Jackson. It's Nico."

Nico bounced on his heels impatiently.

"Nico! What a pleasant surprise! Come right up-" Mrs Jackson's voice was cut off by static and the door buzzed open.

When Nico arrived on the Jackson's floor he saw the door at the end of the corridor click open and Percy appeared in the doorway, grinning.

"Hey, man!" He said, stepping back to let Nico inside and closing the door behind him. "What brings you to the city?"

Nico swept his eyes around the apartment. The TV was blaring out from the living room. In the kitchen Nico could hear Estelle babbling away and Mrs Jackson cooing at her.

"I was hoping we could… talk." Nico said, uneasy.

Percy eyed him with concern.

"Of course." He nodded. "Let's go up to my room. I'll ask Mom if you can stay for lunch." As he spoke, he led Nico back into the kitchen.

"Oh, you don't need to- Hi Mrs Jackson." Nico cut himself off to raise his hand in greeting. Mrs Jackson beamed at him and stood up to wrap him in a hug. Behind her Percy bent over baby Estelle in her crib, wiggling his fingers at her.

"How have you been, dear?" Mrs Jackson asked, "Will you be joining us for lunch?"

"I-"

"Yes. We'll cook." Percy said before Nico could answer. "But we have to talk about camp stuff first. We'll be in my room if you need us."

And before Nico could argue Percy was rushing up the stairs to his bedroom, leaving Nico to shoot Mrs Jackson an apologetic glance before following him.

-

"So what's up?"

Percy was sitting cross legged on his bed, looking entirely unconcerned about the mess that was his room.

Nico leaned hesitantly against Percy's desk, brushing away piles of notes and worn textbooks. He started to worry that maybe he'd made a mistake coming here… Percy was in the middle of studying for finals. He didn't have time to talk to Nico about this.

Still, it felt too late to back out now.

"I…" Nico fumbled for words, unsure where to begin. "I've been having nightmares… about Tartarus." He said eventually.

Percy's concerned frown deepened at Nico's words.

"What kind of nightmares?"

"I…" Nico paused and took a slow, deep breath. Then he plowed through and told Percy everything: How he'd been having nightmares and flashbacks and waking dreams. How they had been getting worse, and more specific. How he had been hearing things, hearing voices. How one of those voices was Bob the Titan. And most importantly how Nico was convinced that all of these things meant that Nico would have to go back down to Tartarus again. To find Bob. To stop the voices.

Percy's face grew paler the more Nico spoke, until he looked almost as nauseous as Nico felt.

Again, Nico felt a stab of guilt for coming.

What was he _thinking_? Will was right when he'd said that Percy and Annabeth had enough to worry about as it was. Nico stared at his shoes in shame.

When Percy eventually spoke, his voice was hoarse.

"I'm so sorry, Nico."

Nico guessed that Percy was feeling guilty for having left Bob behind but that just made Nico's stomach flood with remorse all over again. Because that wasn't the real reason Nico had come to talk to Percy about all of this.

"Will wants to come with me." Nico forced himself to say it, though just the thought made his head spin with fear.

Percy was quiet but Nico could somehow tell he was looking at him.

"That's… good, right?" he said.

"No, it's _not_ good!" Nico couldn't help but yell.

It was like all the emotion he'd been holding back this morning came rushing into him at once. He brought his hands up to cover his face and bent over, helpless. Paralysed at the idea of Will, _his_ Will, being trapped down in Tartarus with him, so far away from the sunshine Nico always associated with him, so tangled up in everything Nico hated about his past.

"I can't- He can't-" Nico stammered out the words in a kind of panic, the memory of Will's face flushed with anger from their fight yesterday swimming before his eyes. "And now he's mad at me and I- I can't just… I can't do that do him. I can't let him come."

Nico dropped his hands in defeat and looked up at Percy once more.

Percy's eyes were big with concern and pity.

"I get it." he said softly. "It's ok to be scared."

Perhaps those words would have annoyed Nico once. But the truth was Nico knew Tartarus scared Percy just as badly as it scared him. He met Percy's eyes with determination.

"If I have to go back, I'll go back." said Nico. "But I can't let Will come with me. There's just no way. If something happened to him…" Nico closed his eyes.

"I get it." Percy said again.

"What do I do?" Nico croaked. Percy winced and shook his head.

"I don't know, man… Maybe if-"

"You could come with me instead." Nico blurted it out. He was desperate, pleading. He felt terrible even as he said it but he was willing to do anything, ask anything to avoid the thought of Will in danger.

Panic flashed in Percy's face. He swallowed, looking nauseous again.

"Nico, I can't go down there again." He shook his head, eyes wide and fearful. "I can't. Not even for Bob. I don't think I could…"

"Percy, please…" Nico begged. "It's _Will_. Can you honestly imagine Will Solace down there?"

Percy's guilty look changed then into something resembling annoyance. He almost rolled his eyes.

"Nico. Will is a badass. He's been through two wars." said Percy flatly.

"Yes, so he keeps saying." Nico huffed.

"Then why aren't you listening?"

"I am, Percy, but it's not the same you _know_ that."

Nico was desperate again. Percy met his eyes and seemed to regain some kind of confidence in his sternness.

"Nico. Do you think Annabeth would listen for one second if I tried to tell her she wasn't powerful enough to do something?" he said.

"That's not what I'm saying." Nico sighed. "I know Will is powerful. I do. Obviously I think he's amazing."

"Then you have to trust that he'll be able to take care of himself." said Percy.

"How can he when he's always trying to take care of me first?"

"Well maybe you should let him."

Nico threw up his hands and tugged his hair, exasperated.

"I can't just ignore this, Percy!"

"No. Listen to me." Percy's tone turned serious. "I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes down there without Annabeth. The _only_ reason we've survived anything together these past few years is because we trust that we have each other's backs - no matter what."

"But -"

"Dude… if Will got given a dangerous quest and tried to do it without help, would you let him?" Percy raised his eyebrows at Nico. Nico scowled, angry at being interrupted and frustrated at the truth behind Percy's words.

"I… yeah, of course I would." Nico said, weakly. But he knew that wasn't true. "If that's what he said he wanted… I…" He trailed off, unable to convince himself.

Nico sighed again.

"Ok fine." he snapped. "But this is Tartarus, Percy. It's _not the same_. You know it's not."

Percy grimaced. "If… if you really do have to go back down there - and I'm still not convinced that this is actually a good idea - then don't you think Will is going to find a way to follow you whether you like it or not?"

Nico shook his head stubbornly.

"If I told Will I didn't want him there, he would listen. He wouldn't follow me." Again, he wasn't sure that that was true. But Will had _always_ supported him before.

"Even if that were true," said Percy, "Do you think he'd be happier stuck back at camp waiting for you?"

Nico chewed his lip.

"Will is not going to be ok if you go down there without him." Percy went on. "He's already worried about you. You have to take care of him too, you know. You barely survived down there last time; things got so bad that being kidnapped by giants ended up being a good thing! You think Will is going to be just going about the infirmary without you not even worrying about it? You might not come back! Don't you realise you won't be able to do this on your own?"

"Of course I know that" Nico was miserable. "Thats why…" Nico's voice went quiet. "That's why I thought maybe if I asked you…"

Percy looked though Nico had just punched him in the stomach. Nico broke his gaze, ashamed.

Percy took a deep, shuddering breath. "Look, maybe I should tell you why exactly I can't go back there."

Nico glanced up to see Percy inspecting his fingernails, conflicted. Nico stared him down, waiting.

"When…" Percy's voice caught and he cleared his throat before pulling himself upright and pushing on. "When Annabeth and I were in Tartarus, we met Akhlys, the goddess of misery."

Nico's blood went cold, remembering his dream from last night.

"We… we fought her." Percy said. "But we were losing. And she… there was this poison. All around me. I realised, since it was made of water, kind of, I could control it."

Percy's eyes glazed over. He looked more frightened than Nico had ever seen him.

"I- I fought back and I almost… I almost killed her. I wanted to. I could feel that she was choking on her tears and the poison…"

Nico stared, wide-eyed.

He knew Percy was powerful; more powerful than anyone. But to kill a goddess…

"I scared Annabeth." Percy admitted, voice hushed. "If she hadn't stopped me…"

"Percy-" Nico began, although he wasn't sure what he intended to say. What _could_ he say, after that? But Percy looked up and gave him a grim smile.

"Jason told me that stopping friends from using their powers in the wrong way is something friends have to do for each other." he said.

 _Oh Gods._ Nico felt his stomach lurch as he realised. _I haven't said anything about Jason._

He felt another brief wave of panic and guilt at not thinking of it earlier, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to say anything when he didn't know for sure if what he'd felt was true.

What if this was like with Leo, and Nico was wrong? He couldn't do that Percy. And especially not now, after everything else Nico had just dumped on him.

"Anyway the reason I'm telling you all this." Percy said. "Is because I've been thinking about that fight a lot and- well, it's just that I don't think I could trust myself to go back to Tartarus and not… I don't think I could stop myself from becoming…"

"I get it." Nico said, echoing Percy's words from before.

And Nico did get it.

Honestly, Nico felt shocked. How many times had he replayed his own encounters with his darkest instincts; his fights and moments of weakness when he doubted whether or not he'd done the right thing or whether he'd gone too far.

He had always thought that as a Son of Hades he was the only demigod who felt conflicted about his own powers in this way. Who felt dangerous. Who questioned whether their powers were good or bad. Who looked at other demigods and saw fear reflected back at him in their eyes.

Nico felt all of a sudden that maybe he wasn't so alone after all.

He shifted on his feet and heard something crinkle under his toes.

He looked down to see a picture of Percy and Annabeth. They were sitting on the beach at Camp Half Blood. Percy had one arm thrown around Annabeth's neck and she was leaning into him, eyes alight with laughter. Percy was looking at her, his face turned to the side, away from the camera. His smile was bright and clear-sighted. A million miles away from the way Percy's face was twisted in confusion and worry right now.

Nico thought of Will, and the way Will smiled at him.

Nico never felt dangerous around Will. Will was never scared of him. Had never been scared of him. Even when Nico felt he was at his worst.

Suddenly Nico realised what Percy was trying to tell him. He understood.

"You're right, Percy."

Percy's head jerked towards him in surprise. He gave Nico a lopsided smile.

Nico pushed away from the desk and stood up properly.

He would have to talk to Will when he got back to camp. Would have to talk to him about what came next and apologise for making him so upset.

But for now, he had to rest and get some food in him.

He returned Percy's smile, determined to make up for having shown up with such bad news and asking him to relive Tartarus again. Percy grinned then. He stood up and made to head back down to the kitchen, motioning for Nico to join.

"Come on," he said. "I think we deserve some lunch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little hastily proof-read in parts, so sorry if there are loads of mistakes! I'll try to do a final editing past tomorrow but I was eager to share it before the weekend was up!


	5. Jason & Piper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Solace has me doing rounds." Nico said with a shrug.
> 
> "You look better today." Piper said. "Your arms I mean."
> 
> "What?" Nico twisted his shoulders, "Oh yeah, I'm not fully healed yet, but Will fixed me up so it doesn't really hurt anymore."
> 
> Nico watched as both Piper and Jason's eyes slid to the back of the room where Will was. Nico cringed. Was he mentioning Will too much?
> 
> -
> 
> Jason and Piper swing by the infirmary for a visit :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~The infirmary. Day two. Afternoon.~
> 
> This chapter fits in between chapter 10 and chapter 11 from 'Between You and Me'

On the second day of Nico's mandatory three day stay (as prescribed by Doctor Solace), the place was still bustling with post-battle activity.

It had been almost five days since the battle against Gaia and Leo's death. Most of the worst wounds from the battle were patched up, although there were still a lot of campers coming in to get their bandages checked out or to have more minor injuries seen to that hadn't been important to enough to bother the Apollo cabin with in the immediate aftermath.

The Apollo campers and healing satyrs on duty were rushing around the infirmary floor and today… so was Nico.

He was holding a basket filled with an odd mix of fruit, ambrosia squares and candy bars, administering them to the bed-ridden patients.

He was at the second-to-last bed when the infirmary door nudged open and Piper and Jason appeared.

In spite of himself, Nico felt his spirits lift when he saw them. The Apollo campers were nice and all but after all those weeks on the Argo II, Nico felt like he knew Jason and Piper a little better. And as much as he didn't want to feel attachment to that part of his life; as much as he didn't want to feel attachment to _camp_ (lest it be taken away from him again), something deep within Nico still softened at the familiar way Jason and Piper moved, both of them scanning the infirmary, looking for someone.

Looking for Nico, as it turned out.

"Nico!" Jason's eyes lit up. He grabbed Piper's hand and tugged her over.

"Hey guys" said Nico, tossing a candy bar and ambrosia square into the lap of a delighted looking young Hermes camper.

"How's it going?" Jason grinned at him. He and Piper paused briefly to wave at the camper in bed, who looked between the three older campers with interest.

"I'm ok. Solace has me doing rounds." Nico said with a shrug, gesturing to his basket.

"Looks like they could use the extra hands," Jason noted, glancing around them. Nico grimaced. He wasn't used to the crowds.

"Yeah. It's busy."

"You look better today." Piper said. "Your arms I mean."

"What?" Nico twisted his shoulders, "Oh yeah, I'm not fully healed yet, but Will fixed me up so it doesn't really hurt anymore."

Nico watched as both Piper and Jason's eyes slid to the back of the room where Will was. Nico cringed. Was he mentioning Will too much?

_Dial it back, di Angelo._

"Um, anyway… What are you guys up to?"

Jason and Piper both shifted their eyes back to Nico. Piper was grinning.

"Well we were on our way to lunch." Jason said. "But then we figured we could eat here with you." He looked at the basket of snacks in Nico's hands and then around the room again. Nico guessed he was trying to figure out what the plan was for lunch in the infirmary.

It took a bit of bravery (there was still a little voice in Nico's head telling him that Jason and Piper didn't _really_ want to hang out with him), but Nico nodded.

"Well, we've got food here." He said. "One sec!"

Nico dropped off the last mix of snacks and ambrosia to a Hephaestus camper in the corner, the only patient he hadn't reached yet, before grabbing some food for himself. He headed to the back of the infirmary where the Apollo campers had spread out several plates of lunch from the pavilion for the healers on duty to eat, snatched a plate of sandwiches and glanced back at Jason and Piper. To Nico's relief they were chatting to another camper, not looking his way.

"Hey, Woodrow." Nico said in a low voice, grabbing the attention of the nearest satyr. Woodrow looked up and smiled.

"Hey, Nico."

"I'm just having lunch with Jason out front. I won't be long; would you tell Will?"

"Sure." Woodrow shrugged.

"Thanks!" Nico said, and he hurried back to Jason and Piper.

-

They sat on the porch together, sandwiches and candy bars laid out between them. Piper and Jason sat beside each other, looking relaxed. They were a lot less touchy than Percy and Annabeth tended to be, although they did glance over at one another once in a while with a soppy kind of smile. It was nice, Nico thought.

"How has the infirmary been?" Piper asked kindly.

"It's been alright." said Nico. "Busy."

Nico told them how he had spent the past few hours doing all sorts of jobs at Will's request. Nico had done them all as diligently as he could, keen to make up for sleeping for most of the previous day.

Jason laughed. "Regretting your decision to stick around yet?" he joked.

"It's not so bad." Nico said. He picked at his sandwich, thinking of Will.

"Has Will heard anything from Apollo at all?" Jason asked, as if reading Nico's mind.

"I don't know." Nico frowned. "I haven't asked."

Nico knew Jason had been worried about Apollo after the Seven met the Gods back in Greece. He hadn't even thought to talk to Will about it. Nico wondered if Will was worried, or if he knew anything about why the voices of prophecy weren't working. He remembered a conversation with Will a long time ago, in the infirmary after the Battle of the Labyrinth, when he told Nico that Apollo would check in on him and his siblings. Was Will close with his dad? Nico felt embarrassed for never bringing it up.

"It's all good." Jason said lightly.

"I'm sure we'll hear something soon." Piper said. Nico wondered whether she really thought that, or whether she just hoped that they would all be left in peace for a while.

"Apparently there's going to be a capture the flag game on Sunday." Jason said, changing the subject. "Chiron thinks it'll be a good way to ease us back into the regular routine."

"Whatever that means." Piper muttered.

Jason shrugged. "Beats questing."

Nico frowned at them both.

"Don't you guys know the regular routine?" he asked.

Jason and Piper both blinked at him in surprise.

"No." said Piper. "We arrived at camp in winter. We only had a few weeks of summer before we left on the Argo II."

"Yeah and even then it wasn't business as usual." said Jason. "We spent almost all our time in Bunker 9. And loads of the summer campers were out looking for Percy still." 

"Oh yeah," Nico murmured.

"What were you doing back then, Nico?" asked Piper. She sounded genuinely curious. Nico supposed that she wouldn't really have known about Nico back then. All he would have been was another camper out looking for Percy Jackson.

He set down his food and looked down at his lap, feeling a blush warm his cheeks. He thought back to last Christmas. He had already met Jason at that point, though Jason hadn't known it when he arrived at Camp Half Blood. He'd already met with the Camp Jupiter leaders several times, including the time he brought Hazel to camp.

Then Percy had gone missing, and Nico had looked for him at Camp Jupiter (he had been desperate to find him, had been as distraught to learn of Percy's disappearance as Annabeth had) only to find that Jason had gone missing too.

But Nico had been alone. He knew he couldn't tell anyone what he knew;He knew that Hera and Hades were both watching him to ensure he said nothing. Even before it had begun the prophecy of the Seven had cast a shadow over Nico's life.

Nico glanced up at his friends, realising that he no longer had to be secretive.

"I… uh, I guess I would have been visiting Camp Jupiter at around that time." He said sheepishly.

Piper raised her eyebrows. Jason's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Of course. You must have known about the switch before we did." he said. For a moment, Nico thought he saw a worried look in Jason's eye as he looked at Nico. Perhaps he was worried about bringing up Percy. Nico rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Piper appeared stunned at this revelation.

"You knew what now?" she blinked. She must have known that Nico had visited both camps, but Nico supposed that he'd never explicitly mentioned visiting Camp Jupiter after Percy went missing.

"Well I didn't _know…_ but I figured it out." Nico said guiltily. "I'd already been to Camp Jupiter to introduce Hazel."

"I remember that." Jason laughed. "Gods, you made Reyna so nervous."

Nico didn't laugh back. He cringed.

"That is so typical of Hera." said Piper grumpily. "The whole time we were going through that awful quest… Imagine if we had been able to speak to you then; we wouldn't have been manipulated in the dark, and you wouldn't have had to go after the doors of death on your own. We could have helped each other."

Nico shot her a sideways glance. He supposed that was a nice way of looking at it. Nicer than Nico beating himself up about keeping the Gods' secrets anyway.

Jason was looking at Piper thoughtfully as well, frowning to himself.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Nico said in an attempt at lightness. Piper made a face. It was clear that she didn't intend on forgiving Hera any time soon.

_Well, that makes two of us._

"So what did you guys do, back when you were at camp full-time?" Nico asked. He figured he better get an idea of how being a year round camper worked, since that would be him in a month or so when this summer ended.

Jason perked up, looking nostalgic.

"Helped Leo with the build, mostly." Jason said. Piper smiled sadly.

"Yeah. I got to know my siblings." She said. "And we prepped for the big quest."

"Must have been nice." said Nico. Piper's smile widened.

"Not as nice as this summer's going to be."

"Yeah." Jason chipped in. "Hey we should all team up for capture the flag! I bet between the three of us we could beat Percy."

Nico scoffed. "Obviously."

"It's Annabeth we have to worry about." Piper said. "I think she and Clarisse have already formed an alliance; whoever gets them onside is the real opponent."

"We could take them, we just need some extra firepower." Jason insisted.

"Maybe Nico could ask the Apollo cabin if they'd join us?" Piper suggested, with a sly smile in Nico's direction. "Since he's basically on the infirmary staff, now."

Nico turned his face away quickly so she wouldn't see his reaction.

"Uhh, yeah. I can ask them." He said hurriedly, his voice cracking traitorously.

Jason and Piper smirked at each other and Nico looked up at the sky in desperation.

Gods help him, it was going to be a long summer…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing super exciting this time, friends! But it was useful for me to get this stuff down to help me figure out how Nico starts to get settled at CHB - I'm spending some time writing some early friendship stuff for Nico & Will's relationship and I have lots of smaller, cutesy moments like this one in mind for Nico and the other HOO characters :)


End file.
